9.25.2008

And in the most recent email from the ASUC, which I deleted because I was so irritated with their abysmal attention to detail, they spelled 'Eshleman' as 'Escheleman' or some equally annoying bastardization of the name.

The same goes for the return address on every paycheck I ever got from the Daily Californian.

The University, interestingly enough, does not misspell the name of its buildings (in an e-letter sent to the students about a week after the ASUC's), even buildings like Eshleman Hall which are occupied by allegedly independent student organizations like the ASUC and Daily Cal.

I'm nonplussed by the ASUC busily scheming to make absolutely no meaningful use whatsoever of my fees, nor the conceptual misgivings of its constitution (as highlighted by Beetle, in his day). But misspelling the name of your office building? Totally lame.

At least the marketing firm from Woodland Hills, CA--the people credited at the bottom right corner of the ASUC website--can spell it. Though I wonder how they know if they aren't expected to be in the building ALL THE TIME.

9.19.2008

So... Facebook is a little less intuitive, and a little less pretty. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of the new Facebook design. But I'm not vehemently opposed to it, especially now that I've left the phase in my life where facebooking my roommate to meet for dinner was more effective than a phone call.

But I've received several invites to many large groups against the change, and on a casual perusal of the opposition, I came across an excerpt of a stunning revelation by Cherri Borg, from a Canadian network:

Maybe if each one of us sends them a postcard or a fax or an empty envelope with 4 simple words on the front : OLD FACEBOOK BACK PLEASE..... maybe then they'll get the hint that over 2 million people are pissed right off.......

This will disturb their mail process and hopefully finally get their attention. Daily operations are a delicate balance..... can you imagine how irritating it will be to discover hundreds or thousands of these in the mailbox with their daily bills and on their fax machine every morning?? Kinda like how irritating it is to those of us who are spending way too much time navigating over this cluttered mess.

I'm serious about this and I hope you are too. Right now they think we will just accept it and carry on regardless of joining groups and signing petitions. Let's stop with the threads that the powers that be never read and the schemes to collect 1 penny from every user to sue with. Let's get in their faces instead. I for one do not want to lose my beloved facebook but I fear that their actions will indeed cause the end of this site.

A few things about this (portion of) commentary concern me. For one, she assumes that people care enough about Facebook to spend money on envelopes-- not to mention stamps. That's what email is for, right? For a free service, it seems she's spending a lot to keep it the way she likes it. Secondly, and I'm not sure I understand her English, she mentions there's some scheme about gathering pennies to sue with.

Sue? You have to be kidding. On what grounds would anyone (even 2 million anyones) sue a business for the right to do what they want with their (virtual) property. Oh, right.

The very fact that this Cherri woman is contemplating the various ways to best "reach" Zuckerberg and his evil cohorts is vaguely disturbing. But I guess it's probably more disturbing that the commenters following for the most part support her.

9.09.2008

As if the saga couldn't have ended, like, last year, or even the year before that. It took millions of dollars and wasted hours on journalistic coverage to come to the same conclusion the university did more than the 21 months ago that tree sitters first invaded.

And now I have to walk to school or home hearing the constant hum of helicopters and buzz of street chatter about the Lone Tree and how sad it is that it's finally ending.

Come on.

These people aren't even university students, but they've made a fool of Berkeleyans in the eyes of people all over the place. As a friend of mine pointed out, mention of our school prompts "oh, with the tree people?" instead of "oh, with the atomic bomb?" or "oh, with the free speech movement?" Just to name a couple potentially more notable things.